Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame: Episode 5
by TommyOliverMMPRFan
Summary: Another new episode in the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame series, based on the show ESPN ran many years ago. In this episode, we go to Dino Thunder and look at the actions of one Trent Fernandez-Mercer, while evil and good, and why you can't blame him for them.
1. 1: Case Against, Best of Rest

A/N 1: It's the next installment of the T5RYCB Ranger Series. This time, we go to the Dino Thunder series and look at the actions of one Trent Fernandez-Mercer.

A/N 2: You know the drill...Power Rangers belongs to Saban and formerly Disney as well, and T5RYCB and your new host Jonathan "The Coach" Coachman (formerly of WWE fame) belong to ESPN.

Chapter 1 - Case Against Trent, Best of Rest

(Show comes on the air and music starts playing)

"Well I hope there is (a good explanation for his actions), because if not, I'll have to ask Trent to surrender his morpher, and give up being a Power Ranger," Dr. Thomas Oliver says

 _"Coming up on the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame..."_ your new host, Jonathan Coachman, says

"I honestly never trusted the guy while we were Rangers," Conner McKnight says. "How can he trap Dr. O in amber, hurt us so badly AND not tell us Mesogog was his father?"

"He was one of my co-workers at Cyberspace, but some of Trent's actions, I felt, were not worthy of him being a Ranger for as long as he was," Hayley said.

"I'm biased because I'm Tommy's husband, but if I was in the same room as Trent after he encased Tommy in amber, I'd have had the temptation to strangle him," Kimberly Hart-Oliver says.

(Montage of Ranger moments starts playing, as does the show's theme, then the logo appears followed by Coachman)

 _"Hello again everybody, I'm The Coach, and welcome to the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Ranger Series, a series that takes a fresh look at Power Ranger topics and controversies which have been largely popular since the show started in 1993. Our mission is not to vilify the subject of these controversies, simply to take a look at the positive side of what they did. You will hear evidence and testimony from all characters. All you need is an open mind. In this show, we take a look at one of the most polarizing evil Rangers in history, that being the White Dino Thunder Ranger, Trent-Fernandez Mercer, who made many decisions, good and evil, that are still questioned today. We're going to count down the top 5 reasons you can't blame Mercer for his actions, but first, let's revisit Mercer's history as the White Dino Thunder Ranger and why some still have a chip on their shoulder about the White Dino Gem holder."_

(Tape of Trent rolls, fully morphed and fighting the other Rangers)

"Tommy as the evil Green Ranger did some nasty things," Kimberly Hart-Oliver says. "But Trent was just as tough, and in my opinion took things too far. I hadn't rejoined Tommy yet, wouldn't till after he beat Mesogog but I saw some of the things he did live. It was brutal."

 _"Though they'd had their ups and downs through the early part of their run as Dino Thunder Rangers, including leader Conner McKnight leaving and then returning to the team, through the first number of battles the team held its own and beat back every challenge that came their way,"_ Coach says. _"In that time they bonded with their gems, added Dr. Oliver as a fourth member of the team, pried control of the Dimetro Zord Egg from Mesogog, and beat Zeltrax's son Goldenrod."_

"Everything was going pretty well, or so it seemed," Dr. Oliver said. "But knowing my history as a Ranger, I've learned it's never that easy."

 _"His suspicions would be correct, because not long after the Rangers beat Goldenrod, Trent Fernandez-Mercer, a worker at Hayley's Cyberspace, happened to be transported into Mesogog's fortress through an invisiportal and bonded with the White Dino Gem. There was just one problem though,"_ Coach said

"Unfortunately, it seemed that Mesogog and Elsa reconstructed the Gem, much like Rita Repulsa twisted Tommy's Green powers to start," Kira McKnight said. "With that in mind, the Gem had a mind of its own and corrupted Trent whenever it wanted."

 _"As the evil White Ranger, Mercer wrecked havoc on all parties involved: Rangers, Reefside, even Mesogog's forces,"_ Coach said. _"In particular he took on all four Rangers at once, obtained the Drago Zord, stole the Stego Zord, and maybe most devastating of all his early actions, trapped Dr. Oliver in amber which, eventually, nearly cost him his life."_

"You know, normally it would stop there with an evil Ranger," the woman formerly known as Divatox said. "I've seen them all. When dear old Tommy joined the originals, that was where his actions ended. With Trent it actually got worse because of what happened AFTER he was freed from the spell."

 _"Those actions included Zeltrax making an evil clone of Mercer, and maybe most importantly, the White Ranger even after being turned, never told Dr. Oliver or the other Rangers of Mesogog's real identity, his father Anton, until much later down the line,"_ Coach says. _"With Trent's help, the Rangers beat Mesogog eventually, but the mistrust towards Mercer continued through the very last fight."_

"Tommy gave Trent the chance to explain himself, and he did. He had his reasons for not telling that team who Mesogog was, but I still personally believe that to be a big mistake," Andros of KO-35 said. "If I was in charge of that team, I'd have booted him out the door immediately and I told Tommy as much."

"I had a thing for Trent at one point, but the thing is he had so much baggage," Kira said. "I'm glad he was on my team, but if he hadn't had so much baggage, history might look different."

"Even as a villain...some of Trent's actions gave a lot of us old-schoolers cause to pause. None of us ever trapped Dr. Oliver in amber like Trent did and he wasn't even working for that dino-faced freak that was fighting them," King Mondo said. "And as a father, I would hope that Sprocket would never be that stupid to keep anything from us like that White Ranger was."

(Tape finishes playing as the evidence against Trent ends)

 _"The evidence against Trent is piled very high, and in some circles he is seen in even more of a controversial light than the first evil Ranger, the famed Dr._ Oliver _,"_ Coach said. _"We're going to count down the top 5 reasons you can't blame Trent for his actions, but first here are some reasons that didn't make the cut. We call them the Best of the Rest."_

(A tape rolls of Trent talking to Kira by the lake)

 _"Good Intentions,"_ Coach said. _"Not long after Trent encased Tommy in the very amber that would eventually lead to his near destruction, it was Trent that made a sacrifice that he believed would benefit the team."_

"He not only told me he was the White Ranger," Kira said, "but he also told me that he had to leave the city, that he felt it was too dangerous to stay. It was obvious that in the goodness of his heart, he cared."

"As much as some of Trent's actions make us want to strangle him, some of his actions directly reflect some of the things Tommy did in and around his first stint as the Green Ranger," Jason Scott said. "That was one of them, Trent leaving the city. He cared so much that he didn't want any of his teammates hurt."

(Tape then rolls of an invisiportal in Mercer's home)

 _"Another Best of the Rest, Coincidences. It just so happened that Trent was in his father's office when Anton opened an invisiportal to Mesogog's home base. When Trent followed, that's where the trouble began_ _,"_ Coach said.

"If Trent is anywhere else but my office on that day...maybe history looks a little kinder on him," Anton Mercer says. "Sometimes you just so happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Sometimes, fate just happens like that, like 12-year-old Justin stumbling upon the Rangers' identity when Rocky got hurt," Jen Scotts-Collins says. "Fate wasn't kind to Trent, and wasn't kind to me for a long time, but it's been unkind, or kind whatever you prefer, to other Rangers before."

 _"Coming up next, we'll begin our countdown, and we'll look at the evil Ranger legacy and what it has to do with Trent's legacy,"_ Coach said.

"If I was going to kick Trent off the team, then I probably would have had to kick myself off because I did a lot of the same things Trent did when I was his age. And I was just the beginng of the evil line of Rangers," Dr. Oliver said.

(Music plays as segment ends)

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please leave one if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	2. 2: Numbers and an Evil Legacy

A/N 1: It's the current installment of the T5RYCB Ranger Series. This time, we go to the Dino Thunder series and look at the actions of one Trent Fernandez-Mercer. The countdown begins in this chapter.

A/N 2: You're going to start to see the Samurai Rangers mixed into my stories starting here. I am going to start doing some small things with that series and if those work out you can expect to see a major Samurai story mixed with the original Rangers in the future.

A/N 3: You know the drill...Power Rangers belongs to Saban and formerly Disney as well, and T5RYCB and your new host Jonathan "The Coach" Coachman (formerly of WWE fame) belong to ESPN.

Chapter 2 - Reasons 4 and 5: Numbers and an Evil Legacy

(Show returns from commercial break)

 _"Welcome back,"_ Jonathan Coachman says, _"We've given you the background on Trent Fernandez-Mercer and the case against his actions as the White Dino Thunder Ranger as well as some reasons why you can't blame him. We now begin our countdown with Reason #5."_

(Tape rolls and a number 4 appears)

 _"Numbers Never Lie,"_ Jonathan Coachman said. _"Not only is it a show on the ESPN family of networks, but it is a primary reason why not only did Trent Fernandez-Mercer need the Rangers for his chance at redemption, but the Rangers needed him to attain ultimate victory."_

"Every great Power Ranger team," Jayden Shiba said, "needs AT LEAST five team members and preferably six. There has been NO team in the history of Earth's Power Ranger operations that has functioned with less than five members."

 _"Even after the famed Dr. Oliver bonded with the Black Dino Gem and added a fourth color to his wardrobe, the team count was still at just four members. Only when Trent's father broke the evil coding on the White Dino Gem did Trent join the team for good and put the number at five,"_ Coach said

"There was little doubt that even as we had early success, four team members wasn't going to be enough to sustain, especially against a villain like Mesogog," Hayley Ziktor said. "The team, quite simply, needed more firepower."

 _"This became especially true as Dr. Oliver was fighting for his very life after his entrapment in amber, and even after that when the Rangers had to deal with the Terrorsaurus, Zeltrax, the White Ranger clone, and Mesogog himself,"_ Coach said

"We've said it a thousand times, the numbers game was never in our favor to begin with, even with teams of six...or seven. As Samurai Rangers we had to deal with Xandred, Dayu, Deker, Octoroo, Serrator and every last one of their Nighloks. That's a tough job," Mia Watanabe said. "My cousin Cam fought with the Ninja Storm team and they were a great team, but even at six it was very tough for them against Lothor. No Ranger team can possibly function with four team members. And Mesogog was about as bad as it gets...he was seriously as bad as Zedd and Rita."

"There was no doubt some of his actions were terrible and I let him hear about it the first time I met him personally," Kimberly Hart-Oliver said, "but he did some wonderful things and he gave them that magical fifth body to be able to go against Mesogog's forces."

(The number 4 shows as the tape ends)

 _"Did that reason make you think? Well, we've got...four...more things to think about. Here is reason number...4,"_ Coach said

(All Rangers who have been affected by evil are shown in a line)

 _"The Evil Ranger Legacy,"_ Coach says, _"It is vast and expansive and most Ranger teams have seen at least one of their team members fall to the side of evil at least once. Tommy was forced several times before he even became an adult."_

"The concept of evil Rangers is not only very scary for those around that Ranger, but that Ranger itself," Kimberly Hart-Oliver said. "We all would know, I've been under Maligore's influence, my husband has been under evil spells multiple times and some day I'm sure our 10 year old daughter will be under an evil spell too."

"The pain and guilt that comes with being under evil's pull is immense," Kira said. "I think it's important to know that Trent never really wanted this life, but the gem chose him. It's unfortunate because it put him through a lot of hell for several years."

 _"Beginning with the original evil Ranger, who ironically enough is Trent's mentor and teacher, nearly every team has seen at least one member fall under some sort of spell, be it brief or extended,"_ Coach said. _"From Dr. Oliver, to later his wife Kimberly, to his best friend Jason, to Ryan Mitchell and Jen Scotts, to the Bradley brothers, Kevin the Blue Samurai Ranger and everyone in between, the list of evil Rangers isn't thin."_

"Mine and Blake's time as evil Rangers was very, very trying but it's not exactly a new concept. Villains are always looking for evil Rangers to fight for them," Hunter Bradley regrettably said. "Especially for a guy like Lothor who was very cunning, conniving and exceptionally persuasive at getting what he wanted."

"Yes, Trent was evil, and to my understanding did some terrible things, but he wasn't the only one; far from it, in fact. The way it usually goes is you do some awful things, someone finds a way to bring you back and then you have this massive guilt complex," Blue Samurai Ranger Kevin said. "It happened to me, and if I was to speak with Trent today the one thing we'd probably agree on is, for lack of a better term, crap happens."

"I can't imagine what I would have done if Lerigot hadn't freed me from Maligore in 1997," Jason said, "so no, you really can't blame Trent for a whole lot of his actions, it happens."

(Tape of evil Rangers throughout history, shown in a line, ends)

 _"When our countdown continues, we'll take at the promise the White Dino Ranger made to his father and the secret he was forced to keep from his team,"_ Coach said.

"In the end, family always comes first. Just like I'd do anything for my family or my precious daughter, Trent would do anything for his family," Tommy said.

(Music plays as segment ends)

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please leave one if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	3. 3: The White Dino Gem and The Promise

A/N 1: It's the current installment of the T5RYCB Ranger Series. This time, we go to the Dino Thunder series and look at the actions of one Trent Fernandez-Mercer. The countdown begins in this chapter.

A/N 2: You know the drill...Power Rangers belongs to Saban and formerly Disney as well, and T5RYCB and your new host Jonathan "The Coach" Coachman (formerly of WWE fame) belong to ESPN.

Chapter 3 - Reasons 2 and 3: Trent's Promise, The White Dino Gem

(Show returns from commercial break)

 _"We're counting down the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Trent Fernandez for his actions during, and after, his time as the Evil White Dino Ranger."_

 _"Welcome back to our countdown,"_ Coach says. _"You've already seen Reasons 4 and 5, and now we continue on our countdown with Reason #3."_

(A picture of the White Dino Gem appears)

 _"The White Dino Gem, and Mesogog and Elsa's plan,"_ Coach said. _"It was their plan to encode the gem with an evil spell and have their own White Dino Ranger. They simply had no idea who the gem would bond to."_

"Villains are not...exactly...original, let's just put it that way," Anton Mercer said, laughing as he did so. "While I was Mesogog, I went back into Dr. Oliver's past and saw what he did as the Evil Green Ranger back in Angel Grove. I believed it would bring chaos and maybe bring Dr. Oliver something that he would have a hard time dealing with."

 _"And the plan worked...to an extent,"_ Coach said. _"The Rangers were constantly beaten every which way by the new Ranger. He was offered many times to work for Mesogog, but for the most part worked on his own."_

"If I had known it would bond to my adopted son...let's just say, I would not have done what I did," Anton continued. "It caused too much heartache and stress to want my son to be OK."

"How could Trent have known that the gem would have an evil spell on it and would turn him into a Power Ranger on top of that?" Tommy said. "When Kim and I and the rest of our friends got our Ninjetti powers, they bonded with us, forever. We don't use all the powers they afford us but there are certain aspects of both my Dino Thunder and my Ninjetti powers that lie dormant within me. The camouflage powers bonded to Trent FOREVER."

"It's one of those deals where you don't choose the powers, they choose you," Conner said.

(The White Dino Gem is shown again as the tape ends)

 _"We've shown you the first three reasons, and we have two more to go. Here is Reason #2,"_ Coach said

(A picture of Trent and his father inside Mesogog's base is shown)

 _"The Promise,"_ Coach said. _"Immediately after his father broke the encryption which bonded Trent to the side of evil, Trent made a promise, even bigger than any he could make to his new team."_

"I knew that when my father came out of the spell he was under," Trent said, "that he would be wracked with guilt. I made him a promise not to tell anyone that my father was under that mask."

"I don't envy the decision he had to make," Jason said. "When Tommy needed our help during my mission to get the Green Candle, I had to make the choice on whether to help Tommy's life, or try to help him get his powers back. I decided his life was more important. Trent had a team to think about, but even more importantly he had a family to think about."

"I don't understand a lot of Earth's customs," Scorpina said, "but one thing I do agree with them on and one thing I absolutely hold dear is that family is the most important thing you can possibly have. If it came down to my colleagues or my husband Goldar and my daughter, I would pick my family every single time. And I absolutely know that my masters Zedd and Rita would do the same."

 _"Some time later, after Anton was revealed to be Mesogog, Trent nearly lost his spot on the team, in fact, Tommy was considering taking his powers away from him_ ," Coach said

"I mean, you want to talk about nadirs, that was it right there, the prospect of losing your powers and a chance to make things right," Trent said. "The good thing is that I got the chance to explain myself at least and Tommy understood."

"As much as it hurt me and the rest of the team that Trent didn't tell us Mesogog was Anton, in retrospect he did the right thing," Conner said. "That's his family, the ones he gives his life to. How could he possibly go against them? My brother Eric is a jackass sometimes, but if he was in trouble I would give my very life to save him."

"When we say, Rangers together, Samurai forever, that isn't just some cute saying," Mia Watanabe said. "That means, we are one family, and we would do anything for each other. Many Rangers past and present come from broken or adopted backgrounds and value family above anything else."

(Picture of Trent and his father shows again as the tape ends)

 _"Coming up, we'll reveal the top reason you can't blame Trent-Fernandez Mercer for his actions during and after his time as the evil White Dino Ranger."_

"Not only did he provide another body and someone who wanted the chance at redemption, but his skill set and powers were...awesome," Kimberly Hart-Oliver said.

(Music plays as segment ends)

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please leave one if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


	4. 4: Reason 1 The Good That Trent Did

A/N 1: It's the current installment of the T5RYCB Ranger Series. This time, we go to the Dino Thunder series and look at the actions of one Trent Fernandez-Mercer. The top reason is revealed in this chapter.

A/N 2: You know the drill...Power Rangers belongs to Saban and formerly Disney as well, and T5RYCB and your new host Jonathan "The Coach" Coachman (formerly of WWE fame) belong to ESPN.

Chapter 4 - Reason 1: The Good Trent Did

(Show returns from commercial break)

 _"We're counting down the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Trent Fernandez for his actions during, and after, his time as the Evil White Dino Ranger,"_ Coach says. _"Before we get to our number one reason, let's give you a recap."_

 _"Reason Number 5: Numbers Never Lie. The Rangers stood at only four members before Trent joined the team and would have been overwhelmed by Mesogog's forces."_

 _"Reason Number 4: The Evil Ranger Legacy. Trent Fernandez-Mercer was not the first, nor was he near the last, evil Ranger in history."_

 _"Reason Number 3: The White Dino Gem. Neither Trent, nor his adoptive father Anton, could have predicted who the White Gem would bond to when Mesogog encoded the gem with an evil spell."_

 _"Reason Number 2: The Promise. When Trent was freed from his father's spell, he promised his father he would not reveal his secret unless he absolutely had to."_

 _"Welcome back to our countdown,"_ Coach says. _"We've gone through reasons 2-5, and now we are at the moment of truth; here is Reason No. 1."_

(Picture is shown of Trent standing victorious above his evil clone just before he exploded)

 _"The good that Trent Fernandez-Mercer did,"_ Coach said. _"Though Anton's adoptive son had his faults, while he was evil and after his evil stint, his skill set and his will to survive could never be questioned."_

"You can question some of his actions, fine," Andros' wife Ashley says. "What is indisputable fact is that he had the skill set, determination and will to survive that makes a Ranger. That is fact."

 _"Never did his Ranger attributes shine brightest than in the wake of nearly losing his powers and his spot on the team. Not only did he save his team rival Conner from a monster, but he then took the ultimate risk which paid off as he found some valuable information,"_ Coach said.

"When Trent told us that Anton had been split from Mesogog, we changed our plans completely. That's how we were able to save him in the first place, by Trent being able to open an invisiportal so that we could get Anton back," Kira said. "It worked out exactly as planned. It took a lot of talent, heart and courage to pull that off and he did it."

"Did he make some questionable decisions, yeah he did," Hayley said. "Is it likely we win the war without him? Not very, in my estimation. He made some big decisions that tipped the scales in our favor."

 _"In addition, Trent brought a skill-set to the Rangers that was invaluable. His camouflage civilian power was a major asset to the team, and his ability to control the Dragozord and Stegazord was a major factor in the Rangers favor,"_ Coach said.

"What you have to remember is that the White Gem was basically on the same power level as the other four gems combined," Conner said. "That one Ranger had the power to beat all four of us by himself, and couple that with the fact that he had a big heart...that's why you have to overlook some of the things he did and focus on the positive."

"Fernandez is far from the first Ranger to be questioned when he came on the team, although his circumstances were a little bit different," Mia Watanabe says. "My cousin Cam, when he became the Green Samurai Storm Ranger, Uncle Kanoi didn't want him to take that power. On our team, Antonio Garcia was heavily questioned when he came into our family. But we saw what he could do and we knew we couldn't win without him."

"I was welcomed as a sixth member to the original team without question...after I almost killed them," Tommy said. "If you have a big heart, and you have the skills that Trent possessed, there's no way anyone could have said no to him being a member of the team. He came with a little baggage but we were willing to put that to the side while we were fighting for the world."

"I questioned my own husband when I first came back to the past to fight Ransik, Nadira and all their goons," Jennifer Scotts-Collins said, "so the one thing is, if you can prove yourself worthy and if you really put your heart in it, and you're skilled enough, we're pretty willing to forget about some past transgressions."

(The picture of Trent standing over an exploding White Ranger clone is shown again as tape ends)

 _"Well, there you have the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Trent Fernandez-Mercer for his actions before, and after, his time as an Evil Ranger. While past transgressions will never completely be forgotten, it's also fact that Rangers have been able to prove themselves throughout history with the skill and will to win,"_ Coach said. _"I'm Jonathan Coachman, and until next time, thanks for watching."_

(Music plays as show comes to a close)

A/N 3: Some future T5RYCB coming up in the future: A Samurai version to be determined, why you can't blame the Rangers for always wearing their colors in public, and The Letter from Kimberly's perspective. If anyone has any ideas for a future T5RYCB that you really want to see, leave it in a review or PM me.

 **Review box is at the bottom. Please leave one if you wouldn't mind. Thanks.**


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